I am surprised I like the changes as much as I do, I was getting negative - probably due to the Greenline's powerful opponents having unfettered media for months while the options were worked out.
Quick thoughts:
- 11th Ave works as well as 12th, benefit in leaving a whole block between the new arena to drive traffic through a retail zone.
- Extra underground - but shallow - future-proofs Victoria Park for a high density, transit-oriented neighbourhood in future decades.
- Shallower LRT is far better to access and is the right call. The original plan had wild 7 storey deep platforms. That was my big red flag that the team got off-track as it's a crazy expensive solution to use a bored deep tunnel to avoid impacts in a city with as little traffic and pedestrian retail along the route as Calgary.
- River pathway and Prince's Island interaction are the biggest issues with the new plan, but if we put some smart designers on it and do it right I can live with it.
- Centre Street at grade is perfectly fine - again the problem is a political one not technical. The cheapest option was always to give dedicated surface right-of-way from drivers to transit WHILE not scope-creeping a transit project with road expansion.
- If Centre is local access, transit-only south of 16th we have a great corridor. If the Roads department and vocal car-aficionados demand road expansion to keep car capacity (at the expense of transit, walkability and redevelopment) we missed the mark on that stretch.
- Without more detail, I would guess the 16th Ave station might actually be like 14th Ave, to allow for an underpass at 16th Ave in a future phase.
Overall I think I like it as good or better than the original plan, with different trade-offs. Importantly, nothing stands out as a deal-breaker or a large development barrier - if anything this alignment helps transit access even more than the original on account of shallower tunnels. Will be interesting to see the response in public over the next while.